An incredibly fun, immersive RPG with tons to do, unfortunately hindered by some debilitating flaws. (Tr
You are Jack Russell, a simple, moronic teenager thrust into a story far too big for him to ever comprehend. Jack may lack in brains, but he's never short on instinct and courage, and these traits more often than not leave him in good stead. Despite being an idiot, a jerk, and a surprisingly manipulative little man, Jack is 100% dependable, a trait which lands him friends up the wazoo. As mentioned, there are over 170 characters to recruit in this game (a number making up the vast majority of the NPC population), each with their own distinct fighting style that contributes to your standard RPG party makeup of four characters. These other characters are strictly AI controlled, however, and you may only command Jack.
The battle system is similar to Star Ocean (or so I'm told). It's an action RPG at its very strongest, with commands being given on the fly and fast-paced action. It's a fun system, but it eventually becomes slightly repetitive: it becomes button-mashy. This is ok for some but not ok for others; if you've played and enjoyed the Kingdom Hearts games, you should be fine.
Sound in the game is great. The voice acting is quite impressive, with only one or two voices sounding rather contrived. The music is wonderful, and I honestly have no clue why most review sites said that it didn't stick out, because I have many of the songs from the game stuck in my head at this very moment (not because they're annoying, but because they're good). The soundtrack really lightens the game up, and is a blessing.
Graphically the game also shines. Character models are amazingly varied, the world is colorful and fun to explore, and everything just seems like it fits. I'm not really a good judge of graphics, since I frequently just don't notice them, but nothing about the game stood out as 'bad' to me graphically whatsoever.
My gripes with the game are few but significant. The first and most important gripe deals with the save system in the game. What they've done here is drop you in a world you can basically explore from the get go, but only given you one save point. At any given point in the game, there is only one save point that you are able to use, and frequently, that save point lies in a place where, if you were to enter, would start a slew of unskippable cutscenes that advance the story. This game has lengthy cutscenes, which, while they are enjoyable to watch, are really annoying to deal with when you're just trying to save. Also, advancing the story is a major no-no at certain points in the game, as you're liable to miss some very good characters or very important events by doing so. All in all, the save system needed major improvement.
My other real gripe with the game was the fact that, in battle, the characters are incredibly noisy and annoying. I heard Jack yell 'alright!' around 2,000 times, I'm willing to bet, before I completed this game. It worked alright at first but got quickly annoying.
To end it on a positive note, Radiata Stories is a game with an enthralling, branching story-arch, with two very different endings. I myself enjoyed the game so much that I played it to both of its conclusions and thoroughly enjoyed the experience both times. Had the save system not been so annoying, this game would have undoubtedly gotten a much higher score, maybe in the high 9's range. But even so, Radiata Stories is a game that should not be missed, and I urge those of you reading this review that have not played this game (and who obviously enjoy this type of game) to buy it now.